Jets and Bears primed for Frank Hyde Shield showdown

The Newtown Jets
will stage one of the marquee games of the NSW Cup season when they host fellow
1908 foundation club North Sydney Bears at Henson Park next Saturday. The Jets
had an enforced layoff this past weekend when their home game against the NSW
Cup competition leaders Balmain Tigers was cancelled due to the
waterlogged state of the Henson Park playing surface.

Newtown's home game
against the fast-improving North Sydney has added zest with the coveted Frank
Hyde Shield being up for grabs, with the Jets being well-placed to take back the
shield which they last held in 2007. The shield commemorates the late Frank
Hyde, the stylish Rugby League centre who played with distinction for the
Newtown, North Sydney and Balmain clubs, and who is best remembered as the
peerless Rugby League radio broadcaster who dominated the ratings for more than
thirty years.

Saturday's needle
match between these two old rival clubs is also the halfway mark for Newtown in
the 2010 NSW Cup season. The Jets are travelling in third place on the
competition table but there is still a lot of Rugby League to be played, and
there is no telling what good or bad football fortunes might lie ahead in the
next three months.

The Jets should be
refreshed after their unscheduled weekend's break and ready to both reclaim the
Frank Hyde Shield and to maintain their recent momentum in the 2010 NSW Cup
premiership quest. Newtown and North Sydney face off at Henson Park on Saturday
(12th June) at 3.00pm, with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Balmain Tigers
programmed to play a NSW Cup curtain-raiser at the same ground at
1.00pm.